Latex Mattress vs. TempurPedic: Our Opinion

When you are shopping for a new mattress and looking at all of your options, one of the comparisons that will surely make at some point is a latex mattress vs. TempurPedic memory foam. You’ve probably already seen one of the top ranking articles on Google that makes it sound like TempurPedic mattresses are hot, wear out after a few years, and are somehow toxic. But notice that the article is written by someone selling organic latex mattresses. I would think that in general, there is probably an incentive to promote what a company sells in comparison to a brand that it doesn’t carry. Here are some facts about TempurPedic mattresses:

TempurPedic uses a type of memory foam that was originally invented by NASA scientists as a pressure absorbing material for astronauts during liftoff. A Swedish company licensed and developed the foam for use as a mattress in the 1990s, which eventually became the TempurPedic company you know today. They have continued developing the material ever since.

There’s no question that TempurPedic mattresses are expensive. But I have personally owned one for almost 10 years, and it is still exactly as good as it was when I originally purchased it. It was the best mattress purchase I have ever made, and well worth the money I spent buying it at full retail. TempurPedic says that a 2010 Blackstone Group Tempur-Pedic Owners Study showed that 9 out of 10 people who bought one of their mattresses would buy one again. (Although they don’t specify how long after the purchase they said that.) And they also claim that 94 percent of owners are satisfied with their purchase.

With all that said, I am not saying that latex mattresses aren’t any good. In fact, latex mattresses have quite a few advantages of their own. One issue you have to consider, however, is that TempurPedic is one brand, using its own memory foam. Latex mattresses come in many forms, from many different manufacturers.

You might buy a high quality latex mattress that you like better than a TempurPedic, or a crappy cheap one that you think is worse than any mattress you’ve ever slept on. There are many other types of memory foam, and many brands of memory foam mattresses. So don’t say “TempurPedic” unless you are referring to that specific brand. There are plenty of cheap and terrible memory foam mattresses out there that are other brands.

There’s a lot of work you’ll have to do as a consumer to figure out if you are getting your money’s worth with a latex mattress. That’s because there are a ton of different variables with a latex mattress, and any of them can affect the price, the longevity, the comfort level, the quality of materials and more.

Natural latex is a product that comes from a rubber tree. A mattress can be made of natural latex, or synthetic latex, or a blend of the two. If you are looking for a high end, “natural” option for your bed, then latex is going to be a good way to go. You can buy a completely organic, natural latex mattress. Natural latex will last for many years, and many of the top organic natural latex mattress brands have up to a 20 year warranty.

That being said, there are plenty of blended latex mattresses that are still very high quality mattresses, that are very comfortable. Buying 100 percent “natural latex” guarantees that your price is going to be higher, but it doesn’t guarantee the highest level of comfort. Why? Because you still have to consider the other materials in the mattress, how much latex is being used, where the latex layers are in the mattress, which process was used to make the latex, etc.

What you have to be careful with is that many mattresses are called latex, but it’s rare to find a mattress that is just one big slab of 100 percent latex rubber. Latex mattresses are actually made of lots of different materials. So you don’t know how much latex rubber is actually part of the mattress without checking. It might just be a thin layer at the top of the mattress, instead of being part of the core. Many latex mattresses are part latex, and part memory foam.